Blackie Memorial Lecture 2001. Homeopathy: progress and promise, a critical perspective

This lecture attempts to analyse the progress made by homeopathy in recent years, by analysing consumer awareness, sales and distribution trends of homeopathic products, and research publications. Sales of homeopathic medicines are growing rapidly, but remain a very small fraction of the total pharmaceutical market. The proportion of combination to single medicines varies widely between countries. The market is concentrated in a relatively small number of the available medicines; many available homeopathic medicines are never used. Regulation of homeopathic practitioners and medicines is problematic, the legal position varies between countries. The volume of research is growing steadily. A series of recommendations is made, including modernisation of the terminology of homeopathy, training of more practitioners, a defined research agenda and integration into the medical system.